


First of a Thousand

by CarpeDiemForLife



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s01e13 Morning Star, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-13
Updated: 2016-04-13
Packaged: 2018-06-02 02:02:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6545944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarpeDiemForLife/pseuds/CarpeDiemForLife
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Magnus is only too happy to agree with Alec's suggestion to check the perimeter. The events of earlier are still hanging over them, and he is desperate to get everything out in the open before permanent damage can be done to their burgeoning romance. This is what follows.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First of a Thousand

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ringoflamingo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ringoflamingo/gifts).



> I'm sure many others have already written episode tags for this moment, but I wanted to try my hand at it as well! I've become far more invested in Malec than I ever intended, and these two wouldn't let me be until I wrote something for them.
> 
> Hope you enjoy <3
> 
> \--
> 
> This is a gift for [alecslitewood](LINK) for being infinitely wonderful!

Magnus followed Alec from the room, eyes fixed on the planes of his back, the only part of Alec currently available to him. His heart squeezed when Alec’s posture grew stiffer the moment they were alone together, out of the others’ company. He shot a glance over his shoulder to be certain no one was close enough to hear them. Then,

“Alec?”

The shadowhunter ignored him, moving swiftly towards the opposite end of the room to check for potential security breaches. Magnus followed at an unhurried pace despite his hurried heartbeat. His attention was on one thing only.

“Alec, please—”

“Don’t.”

He pulled up short, a vicious pang in his chest. But almost immediately, Alec seemed to hear the abruptness of his own answer and he winced apologetically. Magnus took a breath of relief.

Flustered now—quite adorably, if Magnus did say so himself—Alec continued, “I just mean... Not now, that’s all. We have a job to do, you said so yourself. We don’t have time for... you know, _that_.”

“Of course,” agreed Magnus, plastering on a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Duty comes first.”

Alec’s eyes trailed up from the ground and lighted on Magnus for the first time. He squinted at him, as though he wasn’t quite sure whether the warlock was mocking him or not. Apparently deciding that Magnus was, in fact, being sincere, he simply said, “Uh, yeah,” before his eyes bounced nervously away again.

He exited through a door into the room beyond. Magnus followed, watching Alec’s movements as he continued to scout the nooks and crannies of the apartment. Alec was _always_ beautiful, but there was something about his look of intent concentration that... _did_ things to Magnus. In this moment, however, he was unable to appreciate it fully. The longer things remained unspoken, unresolved between Alec and he, the worse he felt. A perpetually sour taste was in his mouth, and his insides had knotted themselves so tightly together that he wondered if he could ever be unwound again.

It wasn’t long before he could keep his silence no longer.

“I only need you to know that I did _not_ kiss her,” he burst out.

Alec froze in place, half-crouched to the ground, head angled away from Magnus.

“Nor did I want to. Please believe me. Camille—”

“I know.” Alec stood up and turned to look directly at him. There was hurt and discomfort in his eyes, but gentleness too. Understanding. Magnus felt a weight lifted from him and knew his eyes were misting over with gratitude. This time Alec held his gaze. “I know that. I... Izzy and I came in right as she kissed you. It was obvious that you were pulling away from her before you even knew I was there.”

“So...” Magnus felt as though his heart had been swept up, up, up and away on the wings of an angel. “Everything’s all right, then,” he said, the end of his statement lilting upwards in question.

His heart sank right back down again when Alec turned away, a hardened, unreadable expression on his face.

“Look, Magnus, this isn’t... It’s not the right time to talk about this. We’re supposed to be keeping an eye out for potential booby-traps, remember?” So saying, Alec made a deliberate move towards examining the remaining contents of the room.

“Alexander...”

Once upon a time Magnus might have been embarrassed at the obvious heartbreak in his voice, embarrassed at the way his eyes were filling up with tears, but Alec had done something to him, _changed_ something in him, and he couldn’t be bothered to worry about his pride when something far more precious was on the line.

As if he couldn’t help himself, Alec’s gaze was pulled back towards Magnus and he stood stock still, staring at the warlock. Suddenly nothing in the world existed outside the two of them. All thoughts of duty or responsibility had been forgotten. Magnus’s focus had narrowed down to a single point in the universe, and he knew from Alec’s breathless gaze that he was not alone in that. When Alec swallowed, the bobbing of his Adam’s apple was like a stone dropped in the ocean, rippling out in bigger and bigger waves.

“This can’t be our end,” Magnus said, barely more than a whisper, practically a prayer. “Not before we’ve even truly begun.”

A shaky breath ended the stillness of Alec’s body. He blinked, looking down and away before Magnus could read his countenance.

A pain not unlike being stabbed with a heated blade spread from Magnus’s chest through every muscle, every limb. White hot, fiery agony that Magnus had long believed he would never feel again.

He barely had time to scold himself for developing such a strong attachment to someone in such an absurdly short time, when Alec crossed the distance between them in three long, powerful steps. Magnus’s heart skipped a merry dance as he craned his neck to stare up into Alec’s eyes. All the hesitance that had been absent from Alec’s stride was there in his gaze.

Moving awkwardly, cautiously, Alec put a hand on Magnus’s neck, resting it on the edge of his collar so that two of his fingers were brushing bare skin, and in the same movement he bridged the remaining gap between them and met Magnus in a gentle kiss. The centuries-old warlock inhaled a deep breath into his lungs, part relief, part desire, part bliss, as he instinctively reciprocated the gesture.

Then it was over. Brief as it had been, the kiss left a tender smile on Magnus’s lips. His joy increased exponentially when he opened his eyes to find Alec smiling back at him, none of the shock or confusion that had been present at his wedding. Only Alec, happy, looking at Magnus as though there were stars in his eyes.

“It’s not,” Alec promised.

And as Magnus stared back at the man in front of him, unable to speak, unable to look away, unable to do anything but smile, he thought to himself, _This may not yet be love... but I_ will _fall in love with you a thousand times over, in a thousand different ways, before my life reaches its end. And one day I’ll tell you._

“Well,” he said, once he’d sufficiently recovered. “At the risk of repeating myself, you truly do know how to make a statement.”

Alec grinned, the expression pleased yet bashful, and Magnus’s heart did another somersault. “I think you bring it out of me. But we really should get back to checking the perimeter. We can talk later.”

“I couldn’t agree more! I’ll follow your lead, Alexan—”

The name died on his lips as the cold steel of a blade touched his throat, and he saw the press of one against Alec’s as well. Rage flooded through him, but he kept still and silent, knowing he could not conjure up enough magic to defeat two opponents before they were able to slit Alec’s throat.

“I think you’d better follow our lead instead, warlock,” said a voice by his ear. He was spun around with a sharp jerk and forced to move forward, as the same was done to Alec. They walked side by side. The air was steeped in awkwardness as their captors marched them on.

“You are entirely too distracting for your own good,” Alec muttered out of the side of his mouth.

_I love you as well, darling_ , was Magnus’s first thought. He substituted it with an equally sassy, “Why, thank you.”

Alec shot him an unamused look.

“And I’m sorry,” he quickly amended, smiling a little despite himself.

Their situation was bad, verging on catastrophic; he wasn’t unaware of that fact. But the banter with Alec served almost to steady him, calm him. Such an occurrence—their capture—could easily have soured Alec’s affection for him, changed his mind about their relationship after all. One _could_ make the argument, Magnus supposed, that he was somewhat to blame for their current predicament. (Not that one _should_ , he thought.) But it was clear from the tone of Alec’s voice and the affectionate, if annoyed, look in his eyes that this was not the case. His instinct upon capture was not to rebuild his walls and shut Magnus out, but rather to let Magnus _in_ and share the burden of their mistake _together_ , thereby easing the pain for both.

Magnus felt his heart swell, and somehow he knew, he _knew_ , that they would both make it out of this in one piece, and would then have the discussion that needed to be had so that they might move forward.

In the meantime, it was enough that Alec had kissed him. That Alec had promised it wasn’t over between them. That Alec was still willing to open his heart to Magnus.

And as they were pushed through the doorway to join their captive friends, Magnus—with a smile in his heart, if no longer on his lips—placed a mental check next to the first of a thousand.


End file.
